Onion Valley to Kearsarge Lakes 10/17/08

I have to carry weight on my back most of the time when I hike for the next couple of months to get ready for a trip I'm planning; so I headed out on a backpacking trip over Kearsarge Pass. I wasn't sure which direction I would go once over the Pass, but I was thinking of going out to Vidette Meadows and then trying to climb West Vidette, or camping at Charlotte Lake and day hiking up toward Glen Pass, or the easiest option would be to camp at Kearsarge Lakes and climb Mount Rixford. When I put on the 32 pound pack in the morning and headed up toward Kearsarge Pass my body told me that I was going with the easiest option - Kearsarge Lakes with a day hike from there the next day. I got to Kearsarge Lakes pretty early, so I had a chance to play with my camera and find out how the circular polarizer I picked up would work. It was a beautiful day - warm with a slight breeze. At about 5:30 it started getting smoky and by 6:30 the smoke was heavy and there were ashes flying all over the place. I heard that the fire was not that far away down past Bullfrog Lake somewhere, but I couldn't see it. By 7 pm my eyes were stinging and I was coughing; so I packed up and headed back out because I didn't want to breath that awful air all night long - my lungs are not the best as it is; so they don't need to inhale smoke that thick for any length of time. Anyway, Kearsarge Lakes are beautiful and I carried weight on my back like I had intended to. It took me 4 hours to get to Kearsarge Lakes from Onion Valley and then 3 hours to backpack out from Kearsarge Lakes to Onion Valley; so a 7 hour, 13 mile, 3700' gain day.

It is so much harder for me to backpack than to day hike, but I need to be able to carry weight and backpack to get to the beautiful places I want to go; so the training continues. I now have to figure out where to go with my pack next weekend.